Provoking a Graceful Bloom Novel

---- Chapter 153 The next morning, once the troops were assembled, Sebastian gave the order to march. The army pressed forward into the winding ridges of Mount Iron. Eric frowned in puzzlement. "General Campbell, why is Lady Campbell not with us?" She was their strategist, after all. Though he had always doubted what use a young woman could be in battle, everyone had heard of her exploits. Whether exaggerated or true, her presence at least offered a measure of reassurance, And yet, Selena was nowhere to be seen. Had she fled at the last moment, too afraid to enter the mountains herself?

Had her insistence on rest the night before been no more than cowardice in disguise? Sebastian caught the flicker of disdain in the man's eyes, but chose not to rebuke him. "Lena has gone ahead. She scouts the mountains even now." "Impossible," Eric muttered under his breath. Mount Iron was thick with hidden bandits. Even Frederick, with fifteen thousand soldiers at his back, had been trapped within the ranges. For a mere young lady to venture there alone-wasn't ---- it the same as marching to her death? Sebastian refused to explain further.

He pressed on in silence, though his expression betrayed his disquiet and impatience, which Eric saw clearly enough. Could it be true? Had she indeed gone before them? Not long after, the first of Selena's marks appeared on the path. [Ambush ahead, half a mile] Sebastian decoded it quickly, then turned to Eric. "General Warren, take three hundred men and probe along the left flank. After roughly a hundred paces, there will be a concealed path behind the brush. The enemy numbers about three hundred. Strike from the rear and cut them down." Eric stared at him, stunned.

"General Campbell, a-are you certain of this?" The precision left him shaken. To name not only the ambush, but the very entrance to a secret path? How could such detail be possible? Was this truly Selena's handiwork? The mark itself was strange, a scattering of lines and curves that meant nothing to Eric. He frowned in genuine bewilderment "Could it be a trick by the enemy?" he asked. "| trust Lena," Sebastian answered simply. ---- He was the commander-in-chief, and wore the command emblem at his side. When he showed it to Eric, the latter dared offer no further objection.

At once, Eric and three hundred men moved off in the direction the mark indicated, feeling their way forward as Selena had instructed. Sebastian was tasked with covering their advance, and he continued to lead the rest of the army forward. Not long after, the valley echoed with the sounds of combat. Sebastian didn't pause, urging the troops onward without hesitation. "We have another mark from my lady," Yuvan reported after about a mile, having discovered another sign. Sebastian glanced at it, then quickly gestured. "Colonel Quinton, take three hundred men and move along the right flank.

In a hundred paces, you'll find a hidden track. There are roughly three hundred bandits concealed behind the boulders. Come upon them from the rear and cut them off." "At once!" Malcolm Quinton answered. Having seen Eric's success moments earlier, Malcolm could hardly contain his eagerness and was clearly ready to spring into action. Selena's marks had enabled them to act with precision and speed. No one could tell how she had crossed the enemy lines ---- unseen, or how she had discovered every ambush and counted every man at each post.

She was a mere girl in their eyes, yet had performed deeds beyond belief. No matter how she had pulled it off, the fact remained that she had done it. Soon, Malcolm's detachment struck true and left no survivors among the ambushers. As a result, the soldiers' morale soared. With heads held high and chests thrust forward, they advanced at full speed, a force none could hope to resist. By contrast, the soldiers trapped at Mount Iron were ragged and broken. Hope was a thing they could no longer feel. All they knew was that if matters continued as they were, death was inevitable.

At last, desperation snapped. One soldier sprang up with his sword drawn, his voice raw with fury as he shouted, "That witch has undone us! Men, she has ruined the prince and doomed our ranks. Let us kill the she-devil!"